Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Well, last night I felt numbness in my right thumb and along my right arm after my first set of overhead squats. It's still here and I have been doing some searching and it sounds like CTS. Apparently this is pretty common in weight lifting, because of all of the gripping. It creates a strength imbalance in the hand, where your grip is stronger than the "opening" motion.

I'll be discussing it with my chiropractor next week and possibly my dr if it doesn't get any better with rest (my week off starts Monday, just gotta get through 2 more lifting days...)

Anyone have experience with this?

Yes, lots of experience... the chiropractor was USELESS: his determination was that a total elimination of lifting weights was the only way to go, and that this would be a long term fix for which I would need to see him once a week for likely a year. These sessions lasted a good two weeks during which he would crack my thumbs and spray Deep Cold on my wrists. Frankly, I though I could do this myself without the benefit of a degree, and for a whole lot cheaper, so I took two weeks off of lifting and went back at 60% of what I had been lifting at. That was a year ago and now they are fine. I'm lifting roughly fifty pounds heavier now than my max a year ago, by the way.

It was specifically benching that was the problem. I found that if I wrapped my wrists tightly for support, dropped the weight as I mentioned above, and used DB presses to start back with, I was fine. Wrists are not muscular and sustain a fair bit of impact and stress from lifting: caution and foresight will get you through.

Falling down does not constitute failure: not getting up does.

I found that my CT went almost completely away when I wore the ACE Neoprene Wrist Splints (black with velcro straps and has a "loop" for your thumb so it stays secure) when I was sleeping. What happens is when you sleep, your wrists can sometimes bend in ways that they shouldn't bend (they shouldn't at all when you sleep) this cuts bloodflow and hinders nerve operation in your arms. I tried this for a couple of months and by the time I stopped I could do just about everything (including write pain-free). I need to dig them out and start using them again because I can feel my hands starting to go numb a little again. It was uncomfortable at first, but you'll get used to it. It's a great feeling not having to feel numbness in my arms.

"Try and fail is the manner of losers. Try and learn is the way of the strong." -- Unknown

[image]http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/8302/opensuse2oi.jpg[/image].